Deeds

In my last post, I reported that based on deed research Michael Frantz of Londonderry and Lower Paxton townships was the son of Hans and Catharina Frantz of Manor Township. When Michael died two men—Jacob Frantz of Manor and Christian Frantz of Manheim—were the administrators of his estate and guardians of his underage children. Were they Michael’s brothers?

I wrote about Michael Frantz of Lower Paxton Township in an earlier post, regarding his estate in 1797. Based on that research, I posited that Michael possibly had two brothers—Jacob Frantz of Manor Township and Christian Frantz of Manheim Township. So, I set out to learn more about Michael, Jacob and Christian to see if I could prove a family connection.

Trying to find the descendants of a target person can sometimes feel like a game of “six points of separation” when you have to widen your scope to research family and friends. However, the indirect path can sometimes yield results—as in a series of deeds I found for John Funk of Strasburg Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania which gave me the names of the grand-children of his sister Anna Maria (Funk) Hoover. This deed is one example.

I found a deed today that I believe relates to Henry Hoover of Strasburg Township who died before 18 Dec 1833, leaving heirs in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. According to one deed, Henry had eight brothers and sisters. I was able to determine four of them, but I am still looking for the others. I may have found three of them.

In my last post, “From Deed to Land Warrant and Back Again,” I found that John Huber had patented 25 acres in Conestoga in right of Michael Hess and surveyed a 110-acre tract that he had purchased from Jacob Eshleman. My next step was to determine what happened to this tract. Did John sell it […]

In reviewing some information on John Hoover (Ulrich1), I came across the following: “May also be the John [Hoover] who had 50 acres surveyed on May 10, 1768, in York Co. called “Timber Hill.”1 It sounded familiar, so I looked it up. The tract was warranted to Andrew Hershey on 24 October 1738 and patented […]

Among my grandfather’s papers, I found the original document of a mortgage between Henry Snyder and George Hillegas for 62 acres 40 perches in Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The document was dated 17 Aug 1830!